church



(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 1. H. W. CHURCH.

WOOL WASHING MACHINE.

No. 552 083. Patented Dec. 24, 1895.

7 roe/v5 Y. Y

(No Model.) Q i 4 Sheets-Sheet 2. H. W. CHURCH.

WOOL WASHINGMAGHINE. No.552,083. Patented Dec. 24, 1895.

R v i e N S S Q $4 '1 l l I I V II I 8 s l & l I I 1: cs H II LBW U I WITNESSES: INVENTOH,

' 9'67 ATTORNEY.

ANDREW a GRANAM PHOTO umuwAsmHGTUNjt} (No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 3.

H. W. CHURCH. WOOL WASHING MACHINE. No. 552,083. Patented Dec. 24,1895.

flazmf m in v Q W'\\ WITNESSES: 0

y fg a (No Model.) 4' Sheets-Sheet 4.

H. W. CHURCH. -WOOL 'WASHING MACHINE.

No. 552,083. Patented D60. 24, 1895.

WITNESSES:

Y UNITED STATES EVATENT OFFICE.

HENRY WV. CHURCH, OF LOVELL, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE KITSON MACHINE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

WOOL-WASHING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 552,083, dated December 24, 1895.

Application filed January 15, 1895. Serial No. 534,948. (No model.)

T at whom, it ncay concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY W. CHURCH, of Lowell, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wool-WVashing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has relation to machines for scouring wool, and it has for its object the provision of such improvements as will secure a thorough cleansing of the wool without liability of tangling or felting it in the process of washing.

To these ends the invention consists broadly of a wool-washing machine comprising in its construction a moving endless chain provided with flights or blades which are adapted to travel through the bowl in such manner as to form buckets or compartments between them, in which buckets the wool and scouring-liquor are collected and carried along from one end of the bowl to the other without any agitation or disturbance of a nature calculated to felt or tangle the material.

The invention also consists of improvements of greater or less importance incidental to the foregoing, all asI will now proceed to describe and claim.

Reference is to be had to the annexed drawings, and to the letters marked thereon, forming a part of this specification, the same letters designating the same parts or features, as the case may be, wherever they occur.

Of the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a wool-washing machine embodying my improvements. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional side elevation of the feeding-in end of the machine, drawn to an enlarged scale. Fig. 4 is a similar sectional side elevation of the discharge or delivery end of the machine. Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view on the line 5 5 of Fig. 4. Figs. 6 and '7 are respectively plan and side elevations of the chain carrying the flights or blades.

In the drawings, a designates supporting parts of the framework of the machine.

I) is the bowl or trough through which the wool and cleansing-liquor is carried in the process of scouring the former by the latter.

0 is the tank from which the liquor is pumped up through the pipe d to the showering device e, whence it is showered or sprinkled upon the fleece fed into the machine through the sluiceway f from the carrying-apron g and doffer h.

At each endof the bowl 1) there are poly onally-shaped drumheads or wheels i, around which at the sides of the machine pass longlink endless chains j, which carry flights or blades 70. The said flights or blades are continuous from end to end and extend to the bottom and from side to side of the bowl I), so as to form close partitions, which divide the interior of the bowl into a number of closed buckets or compartments, as is clearly shown in Figs. 1, 3, 4, and 5. The rods or shafts Z, extending between the chains j and to which the flights or blades 7a are connected, project at their ends into longitudinal ways or chambers m formed in the sides of the bowl Z),

. (see Fig. 5,) the chainsj being supported on the extreme ends of the said rods in the said chambers. The chains and flights are supported as they return from the discharge to the feedingin end of the bowl by the Ways m, which are supported upon uprights m above the bowl. To make certain that no wool will collect in and clog the said chambers or become entangled with the chains, a series of plates at are pivotally connected with the rods Z, and arranged so as to move along the inside of the bowl just opposite the said chambers. There is a cover or hood 0, extending continuously from side to side of the bowl, over the flights or blades at the feeding-in end of the machine, which extends substantially from the drumheads at that point down to and a little beyond the line where the chains and flights begin to travel in a straight line through the bowl. The cover or hood 0 is inclined, as is also the bottom or floor of the bowl at the feeding-in end of the machine, the space be tween the cover and the bottom or floor of the bowl contracting toward that part where the flights begin to travel in a straight line through the machine. This causes the wool to be compressed into the pockets or compartments between the blades or flights k as it is being fed down the inclined floor of the bowl, the hood or cover serving to prevent the wool from expanding upward or partially escaping from the compartments thus formed. The bottom of the bowl, at 19, below the cover 0, is made foraminous or is formed as a grid, below which is a pocket or dirt-collector qfin the bottom of which there is a valve-controlled port 7, through which the contents of the pocket can be drawn off.

At the discharge end of the machine, beneath and in advance of the squeeze-rolls s s, is another dirt-receiving pocket t, likewise provided with a valve-controlled drawing-off port 16. The bottom of the bowl 5, above this pocket 25, at o, is also perforated or formed as a grid to allow the liquor to run through into the said pocket. From the pocket tthe liquor is allowed to flow over into the receiving-tank c, whence it is pumped back, as before stated, through the pipe d, to be again showered upon the stock fed into the machine. The tank 0 is provided with a valve-controlled port in, through which its contents may be drawn oif.

03 is a pipe at the lower end of the cover 0, through which any overflow liquor may run back into the tank 0.

In the use of my invention as embodied in the present machine the wool will be fed in through the sluiceway f by the means described, or by any other suitable and eflicient means, and, passing under the showering device (2, will be showered with the showering liquor, which will be sufficiently copious to fill the bowl between the pocket q and the cover 0 to, say, the dotted line y, Fig. 3. The flights 7c, connected with the endless chain j and coming over from the drumheads i, will take the stock and liquor between them, as in buckets, and carry them down under the cover 0, along through the bowl to the discharge end of the machine, where the squeezerolls will take the wool and squeeze out the dirt and liquor and deliver it upon the delivery-apron hen the wool first enters the bowl and is subjected to showering, the greater quantity of dirt therein is washed out, and at once gravitates into the dirt-receiving pocket or collector q, and is not carried with the wool through the machine. This is an important feature of the operation. At the discharge end of the machine the dirt of greater specific gravity than the liquor will be collected in the pocket or chamber 2?, and the liquor will flow over into the tank 0. It is to be noted that the liquor which is pumped back to the showering device through the pipe (1 is taken from the center or substantial center of the liquor in the tank, so that none of the grease floating upon the surface, nor sediment in the bottom, is carried back. Y

In case the liquor discharged from the showering device should overflow upon the cover 0, it will flow down through'the pipe as back into the tank 0.

The buckets or chambers formed between the flights will be closed on all sides at the lower portion of the cover 0, so that they will be substantially full when they emerge from under the cover and as they pass through the bowl.

By my invention the wool is most thorough- 1y subjected to the liquor in order to scour the same, and at the same time the stock is carried through the bowl without being subjected to any such agitation as would tend to tangle or felt it, which is a highly important matter in the process of Washing wool.

Having thus explained the nature of the invention and described a way of constructing and using the same, though without attempting to set forth all of the forms in which it may be made or all of the modes of its use, it is declared that what is claimed is- 1. A wool-washing machine comprising in its construction a bowl, an endless chain provided with flights or blades adapted to travel through the bowl and form substantial buckets or chambers between them, and a cover extending continuously from side to side of the bowl over the flights or blades at the feeding-in end of the machine.

2. A wool-washing machine comprising in its construction a bowl, the floor or bottom of which at the feeding-in end is inclined, an endless chain provided with flights or blades adapted to travel through the bowl and to form chambers or buckets between them, and a cover extending from side to side of the bowl of the machine over the feeding-in end thereof and over the flights or blades, this cover being inclined, the space between the cover and the inclined portion of the floor or bottom of the bowl contracting toward that part of the machine where the blades assume a substantially straight course, substantially as set forth.

3. A wool-washing machine comprising in its construction a bowl, an endless chain provided with flights or blades adapted to travel through the bowl and form substantial buck ets or chambers between them, a foraminous bottom to the bowl at the feeding-in end of the machine, a dirt-collectin g pocket beneath the said foraminous bottom, and a showering device.

I11 testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 2d day of November, A. D. 1894.

HENRY XV. CHURCH. \Vitnesses HAVEN O. PERHAM, EDITH M. THORNE. 

